Jebel Irhoud

The site is the remnant of a solutional cave filled with of deposits from the Pleistocene era, located on the eastern side of a karstic outcrop of limestone at an elevation of . It was discovered in 1961 when the area was being mined for the mineral baryte. A miner discovered a skull in the wall of the cave, extracted it, and gave it to an engineer, who kept it as a souvenir for a time. Eventually, it was handed over to the University of Rabat, which organized a joint French-Moroccan expedition to the site that was headed by anthropologist Émile Ennouchi. Excavation history Ennouchi and his team began their excavation of Jebel Irhoud in 1961. Before beginning excavation, Ennouchi's team removed 2000 tons of debris that covered the archaeological layers using low-level explosives. The excavation completed by Ennouchi's team used horizontal arbitrary 50 cm stratigraphic layers, or spits. These excavations continued the work of the 1960s excavations, performing a more detailed study of site stratigraphy and context. This event occurred between 310 and 280 Ma and created westward vergent folds. Three primary geological formation contributing to the Jebel Irhoud landscape: (1) Barite veins, (2) zones of barite or "substitution," and (3) karst deposits. == Dating ==

Early work: morphology and lithic technology The skull finds were initially interpreted as Neanderthal by Ennouchi in his 1962 publication. Based on anatomical similarity with finds from Skhul, Omo, and Jebel Qafza Santa Luca determined Jebel Irhoud 1 wasn't Neanderthal (published 1978). This suggests that rather than arising in East Africa approximately 200,000 years ago, modern humans may have been present across the length of Africa 100,000 years earlier. According to study author Jean-Jacques Hublin, "The idea is that early Homo sapiens dispersed around the continent and elements of human modernity appeared in different places, and so different parts of Africa contributed to the emergence of what we call modern humans today." Early humans may have comprised a large, interbreeding population dispersed across Africa approximately 330,000 to 300,000 years ago. Thus, the rise of modern humans may have taken place on a continental scale rather than being confined to a particular corner of Africa. ==Human remains==

. Such changes may have caused the human brain to become rounder and two regions in the brain's posterior region to enlarge during thousands of years of evolution. Mandibular morphology Mandibular morphology refers to the size and shape of the mandible or jaw. The most convincing evidence from the study of the Jebel Irhoud specimens' mandibular morphology comes from Irhoud 3. Irhoud 3 has an inverted T-shaped chin, something typically found in Homo sapiens. further examinations revealed that the Jebel Irhoud specimens differ from them. The Jebel Irhoud specimens have a continuous supraorbital torus, while the Aterian and Iberomaurasian specimens have a discontinuous supraorbital torus or, in some cases, none at all. From this, it was concluded that the Jebel Irhoud specimens represent archaic Homo sapiens while the Aterian and Iberomaurasian specimens represent anatomically modern Homo sapiens. Despite this, it was noted that the Jebel Irhoud specimen, whose cranium was complete enough to assess, showed "hints of 'modern' basicranial flexion in the relationship of the face and vault," and the teeth of another Jebel Irhoud specimen were subjected to synchrotron analysis that suggested "a modern developmental pattern." == Stone tools ==

The stone tool/lithic assemblage has been associated with Mousterian lithic assemblages, but more recently has been described as a Middle Stone Age assemblage due to the presence of prepared core or Levallois technology and the desire to move towards the usage of an African industry name instead of a European one. Scrapers are the most common tool type found in the assemblage (specifically Mousterian points and déjeté scrapers), accompanied by cores, piercers, notched pieces, and some flake debris. This assemblage's most common raw materials are flint/chert, quartzite, and quartz. Of these raw materials flint/chert tools are more commonly retouched. The raw material source for the flint tools has been identified as Jebel Khiyyat (Mekala). Jebel Khiyyat is 30 km. south of Jebel Irhoud. The low frequencies of flake debris relative to complete tools and high percentage of retouched tools have caused researchers to suggest that little knapping occurred on-site. The presence of stone tools that have been burned alongside faunal remains and evidence of butchery suggests that the tools were probably used alongside fires at Jebel Irhoud. == Faunal remains and environmental context ==

The faunal assemblage from Jebel Irhoud includes numerous rodents, golden jackal, gazelle (outnumbers all other bovids), Alcelaphine species, leopards, lions, small cats, hyena, and wild boar. Of the faunal remains, only one gazelle bone shows evidence of carnivore chewing (from Layer 6), while most bones in the cave indicate human butchery. == Cultural importance ==

In recent years, Jebel Irhoud has been identified as an important place for tourism and cultural heritage, both for its anthropological and geological importance. Recently, the Jebel Irhoud geosite was approved to become a part of the larger Youssoufia geopark project. Proposals to increase tourism to the site have been made with a variety of potential economic and conservational benefits for the area. Additionally, the surrounding area has been highlighted for its potential for barite mining; however, tourism safety concerns have been raised regarding the mining operations. Currently, tourist resources are only available after a while near Jebel Irhoud but are present in nearby towns. == See also ==